Thankful Thursday | Honeychick Homestead

October 30, 2014
by Jennifer 3 Comments

Thankful Thursday #8 – Rain

I loved the gray clouds on my walk this morning.

I know being thankful for rain might seem a bit strange, but here in California it’s a welcome event!

Today, I’m thankful for the rain that’s headed my way!

During my walk this morning the sky was cloudy; the air was crisp and cool. It smelled like “rain” is on the way.

The intermittent rain we’ve had over the last few weeks allowed green grass to poke through our brown lawn that wasn’t watered all spring and summer. The little bit of lawn we watered occasionally during summer, is now lush, green, and growing for the first time since last spring. I might be mowing the lawn all winter!

I’m excited to turn off the drip irrigation for the fruit trees, and let the rain give the trees, bushes, and other native plants a good soak. I’m also excited to see how quickly our rain barrels fill up this year.

I’m looking forward to some windy, rainy nights to curl up by a warm fire with one of the many books on my “to read” list, and my favorite Rooibos Chai tea.

Since rain is expected late this afternoon, I’m keeping this Thankful Thursday short because I need to get outside to mow our very long grass. And that’s something else to be thankful for, feeling good enough to mow the lawn!

Share with me what you’re thankful for today!

October 23, 2014
by Jennifer 3 Comments

Thankful Thursday #7 – Home

Gorgeous hydrangeas

No matter how fun the vacation, or trip was, it’s always nice to come home. The opportunity to go to Germany was nothing short of a miracle. I’m thankful for the experience at Infusio, however, there is nothing the like comfort of home, and sleeping in your own bed!

I’m thankful I have a home to come home to!

The weather has clearly changed since we departed, we missed most of the “indian summer” that shows up every October. The mornings have been crisp and cool. I can smell the change of the season in the air.

I’m thankful for the change of season!

When we left, our plum tree had all of its leaves, and yesterday I noticed most of them had fallen. The hydrangeas are preparing for fall, showing off a beautiful, purplish hue.

The dill, chives, and cabbage in my garden are growing quickly. The carrots first sprouts have emerged, and more arugula is sprouting. Next week, I’ll need to rake leaves in the orchard, thin carrots, and figure out what pest is eating my cabbage leaves!

My garden yesterday

Although there’s always lots to be done, I’m so thankful for the wonderful home God has provided, and the skills I’m learning on this new homesteading journey!

Share with me what you’re thankful for today, I’d love to hear from you!

October 16, 2014
by Jennifer 12 Comments

Thankful Thursday #6 – Fifteen Years!

How appropriate that my 15th wedding anniversary fell on a Thursday this year! Today’s longer than usual thankful Thursday is dedicated to my husband, Trevor. He’s so deserving of this lengthy post!

I’m pretty sure we surprised almost everyone when we got engaged, we’d only be dating seven months! I know many had doubts that a 23 year old and 20 year old could be “serious” about marriage. I know this because several people have since told us they gave us a year, at most 🙂 But boy, were we serious! So serious, that a little over six months after Trevor popped the question, we were married.

We both come from divorced families, and the two of us wanted the generational curse of divorce stop with us.

Has our marriage been easy? Nope! Have we had communication issues? Yep!

Have we faced daunting challenges? Yes! Is it only by God’s grace that we are still together? Absolutely!

Have we created amazing memories? YES!! Can I imagine my life without him? No Way!

Is our best yet to come? I believe that is true!

Ok back to the thankful part of this post! Here’s just some of the reasons I’m thankful for Trevor. He’s upheld every vow he made on our wedding day! He has more integrity than anyone I know.

He is honest, humble, and hard working. He is smart, wise beyond his years, makes me laugh, let’s me be silly, supports my dreams, and teaches me how to be a better person. He really is a “super” man. He supported this very last minute trip to Germany!

I’m thankful he kisses me goodbye every morning, again when he gets home, always kisses me goodnight, and most nights he hold’s my hand while we fall asleep.

Its been fun and challenging to “grow up” and “grow” together. I’m thankful amidst difficult times, we haven’t grown apart. I thought it’d be fun to share some of my favorite pictures and memories from the past fifteen years. Some of these photos were taken with a film camera, so they have “vintage” look!

This is the summer of 1998 a month after we met!

This was about six months after we met. We took this in the photo booth at the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz. This is one of my favorite pictures of us.

October 16, 1999 we’d just said “I do” and the theme from Superman was playing as we walked away!

We had an amazing cake because Trevor’s co-worker made it as our gift!

Another amazing thing is my ex-boyfriend’s sister hosted our wedding at her home. Yes, you read that right! We were young, and extremely strapped for cash. After seeing the price of wedding venues, we didn’t think we’d have enough funds to have a “wedding.” She offered to host our ceremony, reception, and even had several of my family members from Michigan stay at her home. Both of our families also helped make the wedding day of these two “youngsters” a success. My aunt was the “florist,” my dad set up the tables and chairs, my cousin was our photographer, Trevor’s cousin provided wine, Trevor’s friend played the ceremony music, my mother in law made the bridesmaid dresses, and my mom bought my dress and helped with many last-minute things. There were many, many others who helped us on that day and with pre wedding festivities. We would not have had a wedding, nor would I have had a bridal shower, without our family and friends support!

Our first Christmas was spent in our 400 square foot studio. I can’t believe we even found space for this little tree!

Our first vacation as a married couple. We traveled to Michigan, Georgia, and Florida so Trevor could meet my entire family. This vacation was a generous wedding gift from my father in law.

He fearlessly painted the very high ceiling in our first home!

He held my hand when I got nervous walking across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Floating Torii, Itsukushima Shrine Miyajima03 copy

This was our first trip outside the US to Japan in 2005. It was to celebrate our five-year anniversary…just a year late 🙂

He’s visited Michigan during cold, snowy winters. That’s kind of big deal for a native Californian! Doesn’t he look excited?

He safely drove with the crazy Italian drivers during our trip to Italy in 2006! Shortly after this trip, my health started its slow decline, we had no idea about the challenge that was ahead.